Washington (CNN) – When he campaigns in southern Florida on Monday, Mitt Romney will have an unwelcome traveling partner: a mobile billboard attacking his religion.

The billboard on wheels, sponsored by American Atheists, attacks the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its treatment of African-Americans and gays, though the church says the attacks are inaccurate.

The billboard, which American Atheists says will follow the Romney campaign for seven days, features two messages on Mormonism: “No Blacks Allowed (until 1978)” and “No Gays Allowed (Current).”

The first line is a reference to the church’s practice of denying lay priesthood to black male members until 1978.

Though the church did not allow black male members to be ordained before that year - when the church head says he received a revelation to reverse the policy - it did allow blacks and members of all racial and ethnic groups to be church members. According to The Second Book of Nephi, a part of Mormon doctrine, “Black and white, bond and free, male and female; … all are alike unto God.”

The billboard’s second line refers to what American Atheists President David Silverman says is the religion's “intolerance” and “bigotry” when it comes to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

But the church denies such categorizations. It accepts gay members, though church doctrine condemning homosexuality has not changed and the church strongly opposes same-sex marriage. Some gay rights activists say the church is subtly growing friendlier toward the LGBT community, including voicing support for some gay rights.

"People are surely free to disagree with us on the facts," Dale Jones, a church spokesman, wrote in an e-mail to CNN. "This group seems not to know that there have been black members of the Church since our earliest history, and there are many faithful gay members of the Church today."

Jones continued: "We would be happy to introduce the (American Atheists president) to any of our millions of members of different ethnicity who would be happy to educate him on our racial diversity."

Silverman denies the billboard, which is costing the group $8,000, is an attack on Romney specifically. A spokeswoman for the Romney campaign said she would not comment on the sign.

“Nobody seems to be talking about the implications of having a very religious Mormon president,” Silverman said. “There are a lot of things about Mormons that people don’t know, including the fact that racism is an important part of their dogma.”

The LDS Church has largely tried to stay out of the politics surrounding the presidential campaign, even though it has received increased attention due to Romney’s candidacy. This billboard, writes Jones, is "obviously" about the "personal politics" of American Atheists.

"We have consistently kept out of the political campaign," Jones wrote. "People can see this (billboard) for what it is."

American Atheists has a long history in using billboards to call out religion and get its message out. During the political conventions in August and September, the group put up billboards attacking Mormonism and Christianity, taking aim at the faith of both presidential candidates.

This mobile billboard, however, is a departure from the standard American Atheist tactic of multiple billboards on multiple religions. According to Silverman, this is because Romney’s faith hasn’t been addressed enough in the 2012 election.

“We all understand the implications of having a Christian president. We do not understand the implications of having a Mormon president,” Silverman said. “We are not taking a position on the election, we are taking a stance on ignorance.”

soundoff(2,468 Responses)

Mitt Romney has L Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth" listed as one of his "favorite books".
Yes, this is the Scientology L. Ron Hubbard.

This is not a joke.
Get yourself some info guys!!

xenu.net

October 23, 2012 at 12:21 am |

lolCAT2000

(on his facebook page)

October 23, 2012 at 12:21 am |

End Religion

I applaud anyone who can withstand more than 147 seconds of L Ron Hubbard's unfathomable insanity.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwlzBlurwWo&w=640&h=390]

October 23, 2012 at 12:44 am |

Mark from Middle River

>>>"Mitt Romney has L Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth" listed as one of his "favorite books"."

...and Obama claims the Racist Ranting Rev Wright as not only his home church pastor but one of his favorites.

October 23, 2012 at 1:31 am |

Wow

Oh, it's true! I didn't believe you so I googled it, and indeed it is true: Mitt Romney has for many years listed "Battlefield Earth as on of his 5 favorite books.

October 23, 2012 at 1:47 am |

Al

Mark,

You forgot to mention the time in 2nd grade when he stole an eraser.

October 23, 2012 at 8:31 am |

no, darling

Rev Wright was a mistake Obama acknowledged.
Hubbard created Scientology, an invasive mind-control cult that abuses its critics, splits up families and fleeces people off their money.
As a sidenote, Hubbard is also known for his racist remarks.

Funny how after this comment, a new page was started.
I bet CNN has been infiltrated by the office of special affairs.

October 23, 2012 at 9:00 am |

Huebert

Regardless of the fact that Hubbard created an evil cult, Battlefield Earth is a terrible book.

October 23, 2012 at 9:30 am |

Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son

I always find it gratifying when the Piddler has to lie to make a point. It just reinforces his complete lack of credibility.

October 23, 2012 at 9:35 am |

Reality

Another "better" ad:

"So where are the bones"? As per Professor Crossan's analyses in his many books, the body of Jesus would have ended up in the mass graves of the crucified, eaten by wild dogs, covered with lime in a shallow grave, or under a pile of stones."

Atheism is not a religion.
Atheism is has nothing to do with politics.
Atheists simply believe that there are no gods.
Atheism is drastically different than islam
Christianity is far closer to islam that atheism.

October 22, 2012 at 9:46 pm |

Innerspace is God's Place while outerspace is for the human race.

🙂🙂🙂🙂😦🙂🙂🙂

October 22, 2012 at 10:04 pm |

Romnesia

Unfortunately Dan, going to school in Texas hasn't given you a grasp on some of the basics. Maybe you should do some research before you post.

October 22, 2012 at 10:09 pm |

Mark from Middle River

>>>"Atheists simply believe that there are no Gods."

So, Atheist.. "believe that..."

So by your own words you just proved that Atheist have a belief system all the same as the belief system of the Faithful.

October 23, 2012 at 1:38 am |

Romnesia

Atheists do not believe in a god or gods. As an exercise, post here why you don't believe in the thousands of other gods and that is pretty much why atheists don't believe in your god.

October 23, 2012 at 1:47 am |

End Religion

Atheism answers 'no' to one question, "Do you believe in any god?" That is hardly a 'system'.

October 23, 2012 at 3:11 am |

sam stone

how is atheism a religion?

October 23, 2012 at 9:05 am |

a reasonable atheist

cliched answers to illustrate the same tired point:

Atheism is as much a religion as..

Bald is a hair color
Zero is a quant.ity
Absence is a presence
Abstinence is a s.exual position
Clear is a color
Unemployed is an occupation..

October 23, 2012 at 9:57 am |

Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son

Another absolutely stellar remark by Piddler. I believe that the sun will rise tomorrow, Piddler. I believe it's going to rain sometime this week. I believe I'll have another cup of coffee.

Are you getting the drift here? The word "believe" has numerous definitions. Get out your dictionary, community college boy.

October 23, 2012 at 10:02 am |

WASP

@mark and dan: atheism isn't a religion, it's an absense of belief in the supernatural.
@mark: i believe you are mixing up a couple of terms. here please allow me to correct you.
-BELIEVE 1: to have a firm religious faith b : to accept something as true, genuine, or real
2): to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something
3): to hold an opinion : think
-FAITH:1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief:

GLAD I COULD ASSIST YOU.🙂 😄

October 23, 2012 at 10:18 am |

William

Mitt Romney has ZERO interest in the military he figured out how not to serve,he brought up five boys all of which where taught by the parents to avoid military service. Who cares that he served on a Mormon mission he could have done both.(but he did not want to take the risk). How could he eliminate military service from the Romney family, avoid foxholes and expect us to allow him to live in the white house.100,000 Mormons served in Vietnam but not anyone named Romney. His lifestyle and lack of interest in serving does not lend itself to him becoming Commander in Chief. His family wants to live the high life and let others do the dirty work. This is not the American way, we are talking about 6 Romney's that could have served but they are not interested. IMHO he DISQUALIFIED himself from leading Americans into battle.

William, you hit the nail right on the head! I was thinking the same thing, how in the world could there be six men in one family and not one of them were patriotic of enough to join the military? There was four boys in my family and three were in the military, we all enlisted. .We also had three uncles and about ten cousins, from the second world war. korean war and the vietnam war. Six males, no military, very unpatriotic. Mitt the draft dodger and his five deferred sons.

October 22, 2012 at 10:23 pm |

Innerspace is God's Place while outerspace is for the human race.

Scandals scandels scandles, Ain't that special?
Religious scandles and political too, Who is special now?
Marriage scandels what aabout you? well ain't we special?
In with the good and out with the bad,
Scandals scandels scandles, ain't we sad?

October 22, 2012 at 10:35 pm |

Charlie

At last count only 2 of last 4 presidents had anyone in their family serve in the military. Both were rebubliclans. All of the previous 4 Republican nominees served. Did you DQ all of the Dems in those elections. BTW what branch did Obama serve in?

October 22, 2012 at 11:22 pm |

Romnesia

Well, when George W Bush "served" it was in the Reserve; family connections helped him avoid the draft – he didn't volunteer – he wasn't around much and didn't finish his service either. The point about GOP is they are hawks yet generally don't put themselves in harm's way.

October 23, 2012 at 1:57 am |

OneTruth

Right, but look how effective he was. There were no successful VietCong air-raids over Alabama on his watch.

October 23, 2012 at 1:59 am |

a reasonable atheist

@Charlie: The president's grandfather served under Patton in the second world war. Also, the previous democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, served with distinction in Vietnam. Patriotism is not owned by either party.

October 23, 2012 at 10:10 am |

fred

Reasonableatheist
Patriotism would relate to one who is loyal to this country. When you remove the source of unity you have nothing to bind the people. It is not about democrats or republicans as neither political party is patriotic since both have joined forces in making us dependent on foreign oil and foreign powers. Both political parties are responsible for our national debt and both are responsible for what is now 84 trillion in obligations and 16 trillion of national debt.
Where are your patriots?

October 23, 2012 at 10:21 am |

a reasonable atheist

@Fred
I believe I stated that patriotism had nothing to do with party. Charlie seemed to be implying that it did, and my post was a retort to that.

I view many of my personal heroes as patriots, and they come from many walks of life and nations. I usually distill my judgement down to if they were giving up personal gain to do something for the betterment of Americans or citizens of Earth as a whole. As such, it is somewhat arbitrary since my opinion of what const.itutes as "betterment" is not an absolute.

October 23, 2012 at 11:23 am |

Yeager

Even Brigham Youngs Great Great Granddaughter thinks Mormonism is full of it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4VGS2f1jNM&w=640&h=390]

October 22, 2012 at 6:35 pm |

Yeager

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nA2S1W75vQ&w=640&h=390]

October 22, 2012 at 6:31 pm |

lamb of dog

Hey everyone. I was just in the restroom at a Hyatt hotel. I found these two blue disks. If I hold them up to my ears I can hear god talking to me.

October 22, 2012 at 6:03 pm |

End Religion

As much as I never thought I would say something like this, I cannot deny the obvious. I have seen the light. I will confirm these blue discs as holy.

October 22, 2012 at 6:41 pm |

lamb of dog

I guess abortion is OK for the Romney's if they are going to have unhealthy kids. Love the double standard.

October 22, 2012 at 5:54 pm |

cori

i'm a white mormon and my best friend is an african american gay mormon man. please, tell me more about my "dogma."

October 22, 2012 at 5:46 pm |

The Truth

So i'm sure you have told him how he cannot serve in any leadership position in the church he attends, right?

October 22, 2012 at 5:51 pm |

Manny Mormon

It's okay if he renounces his gayness and he recognizes that he has the mark of Cain upon him, proving his inferiority to white and delightsomes like us.

October 22, 2012 at 5:58 pm |

lamb of dog

Then enjoy your friendship. Because he is not going to your afterlife.

" i'm a white mormon and my best friend is an **african american gay mormon man**. 😯

Really ? He must feel absolutely welcome in the LDS Temple.😯

Peace...

October 22, 2012 at 6:02 pm |

Ignorance is... ignorance

A few corrections: First of all, the "mark of Cain" is not a recognized doctrine in the modern Mormon Church. Secondly, they've never believe blacks or gays can't go to Heaven. Third, black can now serve in leadership positions. If you want to attack, do it with the facts. For example, why, if Joseph Smith ordained black men to the priesthood, did his successor (theoretically a prophet of God) reverse the decision? And why did the decision then need to be re-reversed a century later? Since prophets claim to speak for God, was Brigham Young a false prophet? Or is God a changeable Being with changeable social and moral positions?

October 22, 2012 at 6:15 pm |

lamb of dog

god is the best politician ever. Of course he knows to change his views enough to keep up with society.

October 22, 2012 at 6:27 pm |

Mitt Romney

I see my fellow Mormon knows a thing or two about changing positions...

Blacks are the son's of Cain and are cursed by God.
But we love Blacks and have never discriminated...

As I said, I am for a womans right to choose.
And that choice should be overturning Roe Vs Wade...

You all know i'm for tax cuts, especially for the top 2%, you know, the job creators.
But of course i'd never give a tax cut to the wealthy...

I believe in equal rights and equal pay for women.
But if women really "want" to work they shouldn't be paid the same if they have to go home early to cook dinner, I mean, i'm sure their husbands are hungry, and if the man is making enough at his job you ladies don't need to work, you want to do what God intended you to do, get pregnant and stay at home...

I paid my share of taxes and not a penny more!! 14% is plenty!!
I technicly only owed 9% so I gave a bit more to get it up to 14% so that what I paid matches what I said I paid.

I think we should have let the auto industry go bankrupt.
Obviously I support the auto industry and love all the job's that were saved with my plan of not letting them go bankrupt.

October 22, 2012 at 7:32 pm |

I'm not a GOPer, nor do I play one on TV

Yep, Mittens has flipped positions more than a crackhouse mattress.

John Fugelsang – Current TV

October 22, 2012 at 10:06 pm |

Innerspace is God's Place while outerspace is for the human race.

People just love scandals, well ain't that special?
Scndels in the beginning and scandals even today,
Scandals are forever! Well ain't that special?
Political scandals religious one's too! Well ain't this special?
Marriage scandals and how about you? Aren't we special?

October 22, 2012 at 10:22 pm |

NoMormon

Joseph Smith was arrested in New York in 1826 for being a con artist. He was charged with being a disorderly person and an imposter. He claimed he had a stone which he looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth where....he professed to tell where gold mines were underground. He also pretended that the stone told him where coined money was buried in pennsylvannia.
The microfilm of the court records have been published.

The worst mistake humans ever made was trusting their future to "god". After thousands of years of praying, they have nothing to show for it. Humans simply use god as an excuse for their bad behavior.

"'He' will forgive me....I will do better, for 'Him'.....I do this in the name of 'God'"

All gods are man made. You absolutely don't need religion to be a good person. When an atheist does something bad, he knows that it wasn't god's will or his just fate that led him to do it. He knows that he is just a jerk. Religious people on the hand will never admit that. They will even go as far as saying that the creator of the universe will forgive them because they believe in the fairy tale of Jesus. Well, atheists don't expect forgiveness nor do they demand it.

October 22, 2012 at 4:41 pm |

Inkspots

What does Mitt Romney believe? I still don't know! This morning I read that a contract negotiated by Romney for his son Tagg with a surrogate mother included a provision that if the child developed problems, the fetus(es) would be aborted.

England's The Independent newspaper reports that the "Gestational Carrier Agreement," dated July 28, 2011, gave the surrogate, as well as Tagg and his wife, the right to abort the fetuses in **non-life threatening** situations. The twins were born on May 4, 2012.

II started out expecting to like Romney a lot more, but instead I'm just dumbfounded - and uncomfortable with the shifting sands upon which he stands.

October 22, 2012 at 4:38 pm |

skarphace

Thanks for the info. I had missed that claim. If true, it should be on the headlines.

Hmm... sometimes things that aren't true hit the headlines. Sometimes, for whatever reasons, they take awhile to 'vet.' Some things that 'are' true don't always hit the headlines.

I'm not claiming any of the above claims about Tagg Romney are true for the record.

Peace...

October 22, 2012 at 4:58 pm |

Atheism is not healthy for children and other living things

Prayer changes things .

October 22, 2012 at 4:35 pm |

Bob

I'm going to pray to the devil and ask him to save the children of the world from people like you. Hey, between the devil and god, the devil is the only one that delivers consistently in your fairytale holy books.

October 22, 2012 at 4:43 pm |

just sayin

@bob
You have been told before, the only prayer God will hear from you is the sinners prayer of repentance. After you are born again you will talk with God on a variety of subjects, what you mention today will not be on the agenda. God bless

October 22, 2012 at 4:47 pm |

skarphace

just sayin: you must have a reading comprehension problem. Bob did not say he was going to pray to God, so your reply makes no sense whatsoever.

October 22, 2012 at 4:49 pm |

Bob

@just sayin
Good thing I'll be praying to the devil and not god. The devil will listen to my prayers, not like your elitist "god". He just sounds like an as shole.

Prayer does not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.

An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.

The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!__

October 22, 2012 at 5:09 pm |

just sayin

Replying to bob only (.) is not worth talking to. God bless

October 22, 2012 at 6:54 pm |

just sayin

Prayer is communication with God and only God. You cannot pray to any other ent ity. God bless

October 22, 2012 at 6:57 pm |

WASP

@ just sayin: long time no see. i pray to george clooney every night, does the same as praying to god. lmfao
grew up southern baptist prayer didn't do anything then and still does nothing now. fart bless.😉

October 22, 2012 at 7:21 pm |

nope

@wa...
nope

October 23, 2012 at 7:37 am |

WASP

@nope: so simple, so easily stated, so completely void of any type of thought. did your mother drop you on purpose or "by accident" repeated times? seriously your grasp of the human language is just so marvelously phrased that i must know your secret; to seem so intelligent while saying so little.
i mean it's the perfect reply to everything......................
you want to bath............nope
you want a job................nope
you want to accept responcibilty for your life..............nope
you want to grow and mature as a human being...........nope.

see so simple it's flawless. that is my new favorite word.....................nope.

October 23, 2012 at 7:57 am |

Concerned Citizen

Is it just me or do most believers on this blog have severe daddy issues? Lets look at the facts. The analogy most often used when talking about god is that he is like a parent or father to his children, he "loves" us and allows us to make our own choices but is the ultimate authority. This is the same parent that has personally committed murder on a humongous scale, sent his own real child down to earth only to live in poverty, endure torture and ultimately death by crucifixion, he has no problem sending any of his other "children" to the ultimate time out aka hell for eternity and generally hates a solid 2/3rds of the worlds population for simply not praying to him in the right way.

I don't think daddy issues even begins to cover it but seriously, what is so appealing about loving such an abusive parental figure like god?

That's a fascinating analysis. They are trapped so long in the house of the lord as a child that they are captive of his "love" for so long that they themselves have a twisted sense of right and wrong. A world full of patti hearsts'

October 22, 2012 at 4:40 pm |

NoWingNutsAllowed

Actually I was thinking about the life long affects it has on our children. Generation after generation, same old fairy tale. Child abuse of the mind.

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.